Kiss the Bride

by Deirdre Martin

  “I’m surprised to see you here so early,” Dana remarked, reaching into one of the cabinets for a glass. “Usually you’re whacking at this time.” Mortified, Dana closed her eyes. “Oh, God ...”

  “Don’t worry,” Josh assured her. “I know what you meant.” He took the glass she offered and started running the tap. “It’s too hot and humid out there right now. We wrapped up early.”

  Dana wasn’t sure if she was treading on dangerous ground when she asked, “How is Eduardo? Are you and he okay?”

  Josh gave her an odd look as he thrust his glass under the tap. “He’s great. We talked about what happened at the salsa club, called each other assholes, and tomorrow he’s replacing some sod by Building Eleven.” He looked at her with bemusement as he took a long drink of water. “What? You thought we’d have a big fistfight?”

  “No,” Dana replied, mildly insulted. “I just wanted to make sure everything was okay between the two of you.”

  “Everything’s fine.” Josh finished his water and refilled his glass, quickly finishing that one as well. “Hits the spot.”

  Dana nervously ran her index finger back and forth across the kitchen table. The room suddenly felt very small with Josh there. “So—?”

  “I’m sorry,” he repeated softly. He took a step toward her, his expression so grave Dana was worried. “I’ve been thinking about what happened a lot. In fact, it’s all I’ve been thinking about.

  “What I did was wrong. I think you’re gorgeous and really special. That’s why I reacted the way I did. Does it excuse my behavior? No. But that’s the explanation for it.”

  Dana’s emotions began kicking up. “I appreciate your honesty.” Which is why you should return it. “I realized, after thinking about it, that I kind of liked your jealousy.”

  “Yeah?” Josh looked oddly pleased.

  “Yeah,” Dana mumbled.

  “So, I’m not a total jerk,” he suggested playfully.

  “I’m not so sure about that.”

  “No? I can prove it to you if you want.” He grabbed her into an embrace and kissed her, hard. “How’s that?” he asked, playfully nipping the tip of her nose. “Need more?”

  Dana felt the world tilt a little. “I think I do.”

  She led him into her bedroom. They lay down on the bed, wrapping their arms around one another, Dana allowing herself to melt into the hard press of his kiss. When he bit her lower lip, she gasped, surprised by how much pleasure it gave her.

  “You like that,” Josh murmured sexily.

  “I do.”

  “I can do more, if you want.”

  “You can do whatever you want with me,” Dana murmured, feeling bold as she slid a hand down between them, running her palm up and down against Josh’s bulging zipper.

  He began to groan.

  “How about you, Josh? You like that?” Dana whispered.

  “Can’t you tell?”

  It amazed Dana how quickly the sound of Josh beginning to breathe hard was making her wet. Her own breath started to catch as she undid his fly, snaking her hand down his briefs to grab his cock, hot in her hand. She began moving it up and down slowly, watching his face. Groan after animal groan rose up in Josh’s throat as she squeezed, quickening the pace ever so slightly. He seemed on the verge when he stilled her hand.

  “You have to stop or I’m gonna come,” he said hoarsely. He removed her hand and, rolling onto his back, pulled off his jeans and briefs.

  Dana leaned over, licking the pre-come at the tip of his dick. Josh couldn’t take it. “Take your panties off now. Now. If I don’t come inside you, I’m gonna lose it.”

  Aching, Dana hurriedly did as he asked, throwing her panties off the bed as she straddled Josh’s hips. Pressing her hands against his shoulders, she rose up slightly, rubbing herself against the tip of his dick. Shock waves went through her body each time the pulsing heat hit her clit. Slowly, so she could savor it, she grabbed him, and began using him to excite herself. Josh was panting, hard.

  “That’s it, yeah. Use me to come.”

  Dana let out a tiny cry as heat slammed through her body. “Oh, God. Jesus,” she whimpered.

  She pushed her hair off her face, looking down at Josh. Smiling seductively, she very slowly, very teasingly, began to lower herself onto his cock.

  Josh was panting hard now, his hands burning as he roughly grasped her hips.

  “Ride me,” he commanded.

  The mere words sent her into a state of erotic rapture. She began riding him as commanded, each meeting of their hips sending Josh into a series of animal grunts. He raised his head to look at her riding him, his eyes intense. And then he put his fingers to her heat and began rubbing, his fingers matching her rhythm. Dana’s eyes rolled up in her head as the second wave of orgasm smashed her to bits, more intense than the first. Josh smiled and, taking his soaked fingers from between her legs, sucked them clean. He was still moving inside her, pushing harder until with one final cry, he rammed deep, coming to a shuddering climax. No man had ever turned her on the way Josh did. She had a feeling no man ever would.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  “That was pretty amazing.”

  Dana lay deep in her lover’s arms, both her pulse and breathing taking their time returning to normal. For once, the condo’s air felt cool to her as it played over their naked bodies. Dana relished the temperature drop; it was helping calm her down, her excitement lingering far past the point of orgasm.

  “I agree,” Dana said. She lifted her head and looked at him, his gleaming damp hair pressed on her pillow, that fine body of his now at rest. Having seen him naked twice now, she’d yet to find any physical flaw on his body, save for a scar down his left calf, which he’d said he’d gotten mowing the lawn as a kid. Maybe she was crazy, but the contrast of the thin white stripe against his cinnamon-colored skin was sexy.

  “Really amazing,” Josh continued.

  “Why do you keep saying that?”

  “I don’t know ... I guess I’m wondering if you’ve had a lot of experience.”

  “What?” Dana spluttered. “Not at all!”

  Josh looked at her quizzically. “How many guys have you slept with?”

  “Few enough for me to be able to give you the number right off the bat: four.” All of their faces materialized for a moment in Dana’s memory, then just as quickly faded as she regarded Josh with interest. “What about you? How many women have you slept with?”

  Josh groaned.

  “C’mon,” Dana cajoled, winding a curl of his damp hair around her index finger and tugging it. “What’s fair is fair.”

  Josh closed his eyes, his lips moving as he silently counted ... and counted ... and counted.

  “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

  Josh opened his eyes, flashing that wiseass smile of his that she found both maddening and charming. “Of course I am. Christ, I’m not that much of a dog.”

  Dana snuggled closer to him. “So, how many?”

  “Do you really want to talk about this?”

  “You brought it up! Besides, I want to talk about everything in the world right now! That’s how good I feel.”

  Josh looked delighted. “The Goofy Dana has returned.” He kissed her shoulder. “I like that Dana.”

  “Actually, I was fibbing,” Dana confessed, changing her mind. “I don’t want to talk about how many women you’ve slept with. It’ll just make me jealous of them.”

  “But they’re in the past!”

  “I don’t care. I don’t want to know.”

  “Then the subject is closed.”

  “But I still want some info. How old were you when you got your first kiss?” She was clearing a big space in her mind for Josh info.

  “Three,” Josh said. “Actually, it was more of a bite. My two-year-old cousin set out to kiss me, but somehow her teeth got in the way.”

  “That doesn’t count!”

  “Okay, okay, hold on,” he said, scrunching up his eyes as he
concentrated hard. “Sixth grade. Cheryl Kaiser’s Hanukkah party. We were using the dreidel to play spin the bottle. You?”

  Dana felt awkward. “I was a really late bloomer. It was in tenth grade. There was a cast party after the drama club’s production of Guys and Dolls, and I was invited because one of my friends was in it. The guy who kissed me was named Gerard Beck. He played Sky, and everyone thought he was so talented and gorgeous.”

  “And he wasn’t?”

  “Total jerk,” Dana supplied without hesitation. “He asked out one of my friends a week later.”

  “He had to be a jerk to do that to you.” Josh stroked her hair. Dana loved it; it was so intimate and tender. She should have been able to predict what would come next, but she was clueless.

  “Have you ever been in love?” Josh asked quietly.

  Dana was slow in answering; she needed to calm the thrill flying through her body. She wasn’t sure how much she should tell. She decided to go the “less is more” route, even though she knew Josh would want more info.

  “I was engaged once,” she revealed.

  “What happened?”

  “He cheated on me about six months after we got engaged. When I confronted him, he begged and pleaded for another chance, but there was no way I was going down that road. I’d seen it played out too many times with my own parents.” She hesitated, running an index finger along his jawline. “What about you?”

  “I’m not sure,” Josh answered honestly as he took her finger, sweetly kissing the tip. “I thought I was. But she was always telling me how I needed to improve.”

  “You don’t need to improve on anything! You’re fine!” Dana blurted indignantly.

  Josh looked at her, making Dana feel at once stupid and exposed. She started to look away, but Josh gently cupped her chin so there was nowhere for her eyes to look but into his.

  “You don’t need to improve on anything, either.”

  Dana kissed him softly. “Thank you.”

  She opened her mouth to speak but Josh shushed her, putting his index finger to her lips. “I can hear the wheels in your head turning. Don’t analyze our being together, or pick it apart, or try to decipher subtexts. Words make things more confusing sometimes. Let’s just allow ourselves to fully enjoy this.”

  “I agree.”

  “One of my clients is having a cocktail party tomorrow night,” he went on. “Do you want to come with me? That way I can show you what I do when I’m not maintaining condo communities.”

  “That would be wonderful.”

  Josh smiled sadly. “When do you leave Florida?”

  Dana felt a crack in her heart. “Nine days or so.” She wrapped her body tighter around his. Neither said a word.

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  Dana’s jaw nearly hit the floorboard of Josh’s car as they pulled up in front of his client’s home for the housewarming party. This wasn’t a house. This was a three-winged, four-story mansion. It reminded her of pictures she’d seen of the Palace at Versailles: breathtaking and opulent.

  “Wow,” was all Dana could manage as Josh eased into a parking space with the other vehicles ringing the circular driveway. She couldn’t stop gawking. When Josh came around to open the door for her, all she could do was stare at him with a stunned expression.

  “I know,” he said. “The first time I came here I thought: holy shit.”

  “Holy shit doesn’t cover it, Josh.”

  “No, it doesn’t.”

  “How many rooms?”

  “Sixty-five.”

  Dana was truly taken aback as he took her hand. “Who needs sixty-five rooms?”

  “Rich people who want to make sure you know they’re rich?”

  “Got it.” Dana looked out over the beautiful rolling lawn, so green it almost didn’t look real. Walls of well-groomed hedges lined the property’s edges, providing complete privacy. Hot pink flowers bloomed in large potted urns, perfectly spaced along the lip of the verandah. She turned to Josh. “You?”

  “All me. It took a long time to convince them roses wouldn’t do well in the planters. C’mon, let me show you where the really good stuff is.”

  Dana felt like Cinderella before her transformation as Josh led her along the slate path leading to the back of the house. She’d never been to a place like this in her life, and odds were she never would again.

  “There are two courtyards,” he said, showing the first one. A gorgeous mix of lush tropical plants and dazzling flowers encircled a five-tier fountain in the center of the courtyard. There were also strategically placed flower beds of both wild and more popularly known flowers along the courtyard’s borders. Marble benches provided a place to sit and appreciate the beauty, the only sound being that of the breeze stirring leaves, and the cascading water of the fountain.

  “This is really beautiful,” Dana marveled. She walked over to the flowers around the fountain and sniffed a small, white bloom with a sweet scent. She looked at Josh questioningly. “Jasmine?”

  “Yup.”

  She pointed to a group of flowers across the way. “And that one with hanging pinking clusters?”

  “Orange spike.”

  Josh walked her around the perimeter of the courtyard, pointing out more flowers. “That’s a nerium oleander ... that blue orchid—well, more purple—is called Blue Vanda. This deep coral-colored one is a passiflora called Coral Glow.”

  Dana stole several sideway glances at him as he gave her a quick lesson in botany. The pride in his face was moving. What a little snob she’d been to call him a “glorified gardener.” The thought embarrassed her now, reminding her how judgmental she could sometimes be, one of the less attractive traits of her personality. Dana got the distinct sense Josh was reading her mind when he joked, “It took a helluva lot more than weed-whacking to pull this together.”

  “I bet.”

  Dana closed her eyes and turned her face up to the sun, reveling in the intoxicating scent of the flowers as she inhaled deeply. “Can you imagine having all these scents wafting into your bedroom window at night? It must be amazing.”

  “Not amazing at all,” Josh said casually. “Just Florida.”

  There was no mistaking the hint. Dana opened her eyes. “I think we should go into the cocktail party,” she said.

  Josh stood in the marble entrance hall of the Sadlers’ home, sipping champagne, feeling trapped as he chatted with an extremely tanned, extremely squat woman named Mrs. Hastings, who’d introduced herself as the head of the Garden Club of Palm Beach. Their talk was less a chat than an inquisition, with the small bronze woman demanding to know his opinion on everything from the hardiest flowering trees to the longevity of orchids during the summer months. Josh was polite and accommodating, but he was growing annoyed as the conversation dragged on. She was eating into valuable mingle time; she was also keeping him from Dana.

  Even so, Josh wasn’t going to let Mrs. Hastings’s endless gum flapping spoil what was turning out to be a great evening. A lot of the guests had asked for his card after Mrs. Sadler gave them a tour of the grounds. Soon you’ll be a weed-whacking mogul, Josh joked to himself. But deep down, he hoped it turned out to be the truth.

  Answering Mrs. Hastings’s never-ending questions on automatic pilot, Josh let his eyes sweep the room until they lit on Dana. She was standing at the base of one of the two magnificent staircases, talking with Mrs. Sadler. Dana hadn’t been exaggerating when she’d told him he needn’t worry about her clinging to him all night. If anything, it was the opposite: she’d been moving easily from group to group, effortlessly charming the guests with her poise and beauty. If she was nervous, she was doing a good job of hiding it.

  Feeling his gaze, Dana raised her eyes to his, and they shared a small, secretive smile across the room. I love you, Josh thought, immediately tamping the emotion down. He was buzzed on champagne, high on how well the evening was going. No need to get ahead of himself.

  He kept his eyes glued to her, his gaze a silent plea for
rescue. Dana excused herself and joined him and Mrs. Hastings, who was now interrogating him about bougainvillea.

  “Hello, I’m Dana.” She extended a friendly hand to the older woman, who smiled cordially.

  “You must be Josh’s wife.”

  “Actually—”

  “She is,” Josh cut in. “In fact, tomorrow is our third anniversary.”

  Mrs. Hastings’s eyes crinkled up with pleasure. “How lovely.” She looked at Dana with interest. “Are you a landscape architect as well?”

  “No.” Dana’s voice was polite as she fixed Josh with a glare. “I’m in retail management.” She made a point of not looking at him as she explained what she did for a living.

  “Well, best of luck to the two of you,” Mrs. Hastings said, as her equally bronzed and squat husband made a show of pointing to his wristwatch from across the foyer.

  “Josh, you’ll definitely be hearing from me about the landscaping needed around our homes,” Mrs. Hastings assured him. “And Dana”—she grasped Dana’s hand warmly—“I’m looking forward to La Belle Femme’s opening.”

  She released Dana’s hand and waddled across the foyer to join her husband. Dana turned to Josh in astonishment.

  “What on earth was that? Telling her I’m your wife?”

  “I just thought it would save us a lot of inane chat—you know, ‘Oh, you’re boyfriend and girlfriend! How did you meet?’ It was my way of simplifying things.”

  “Why don’t I believe you?”

  Josh took up the challenge in her eye. “I don’t know. You tell me.”

  Dana flushed and broke eye contact. “You’re unbelievable, you know that? And dumb in that way only men can be.”

  Josh lifted an eyebrow. “Excuse me?”

  “If her husband hadn’t given her the high sign to go, she most definitely would have been asking us how we met, and much more! That would have been fun, spinning out the lies.”

  Josh drained his champagne glass, eager to get off the subject. “Well, she’s gone now. I vote we leave and take a walk on the beach.”

  “Oh, darling, what a wonderful way to begin our anniversary celebrations,” Dana said sardonically.